To See About A Girl
by LonelyRiddle
Summary: Harry has found a way to finish his task, to end the war. It is not as easy as it would seem, however. Will Harry manage it? From my favorite part of Good Will Hunting.


Harry scowled at the enormous pile of books that lay before him. He had a great deal more he needed to get through as this was the key point in his hunt for the Horcruxes. The final two, being Voldemort himself and Nagini, he knew roughly where they were. What was troubling him was how they could destroy them once they got to them. The first three were the easy ones he thought. The diary he had destroyed in second year and Dumbledore had taken care of Marvolo's ring before sixth year. The third was a bit strange. He had originally thought that it was out there somewhere, and this had increased his angst over having to look.

When they were searching about Grimmauld Place however, they had come across it. It was the same necklace, in fact, that they had found when they were cleaning during the summer after Voldemort returned. He was stunned, and a bit frustrated, that he did not realize that it was here before hand. Had he done so, Dumbledore would not have had to go to that cave, and he might still... He cut himself short, he could not think of that now. Despite the time that had passed since Snape had murdered him, it still felt like it was yesterday, still etched afresh into his mind. Thinking of it would cause his heart to seem like it was collapsing in on itself. This wasn't fair, he thought to himself, "why does this all seem to happen to me!!" He slammed his hand on the table in frustration, causing some of the old books and parchment to fall to the floor. 

He laid his head down on the table, sighing in frustration. His mind wandered back to a stunning red head, and the last evening they spent together after Bill and Fleur's wedding.

"Ginny, I have to go, and I have to leave you behind. I can't risk you getting hurt, it has to end, I..."

"You what Harry?" she interjected, waiting for his reply, with a look that seemed to be in between anger, and despair. Seeing her look like this, his heart caught in his chest, and he had to steel himself to get out his reply.

"Ginny, I...I can't risk losing you. You've shown me what it's like to live, what I have to look forward to after this is all over. If I lose that, then I won't be able to go on. I wouldn't have the strength to continue, I couldn't finish it."

Her face seemed to soften a bit.

"Harry, I know. I'm going to be so worried about you, please come back to me. Promise you will."

"Ginny, I can't promise that, but I will do everything in my power to come back to you."

She moved closer to him, and he saw her move her face up towards his.

He turned his head, whispering, "Ginny, I can't do this, I'm sorry," and he Apparated away. He was gone, and she was left there weeping silently.

That had been 8 long months ago. He sighed to himself and thought out loud, "Why does this have to be so hard?"

"What are you on about mate?" Ron came into the library having heard Harry's outburst.

"Nothing Ron, just wished this whole thing would be easier, you know? I'm tired of having to worry about this, I'm tired of being the one that this falls too, I just want it to be over."

"It will be alright Harry, I think we will get through it fine. After all, we just have to figure out how to destroy that necklace, then its just You-Know-Who and his stupid snake."

Harry snickered at this, "Ron, you make it sound so easy, mate."

"You know me, always looking for the bright side Harry," and at this, they shared a laugh. It felt good to laugh. He had hoped that he and his best friend would be able to share more in the future, along with Hermione. Thinking of her made him stop.

"Ron, where is Hermione? I haven't seen her in a little while now."

"She tucked in already mate. She was really tired after we came back from Scotland. Come to think of it, I'm pretty tired myself, think I'll go and do the same. Goodnight Harry."

"Ok, night Ron."

Harry allowed his thoughts to settle on his friends. They had been with him through out all of it. They had been traipsing across Europe with him to destroy the Horcuxes for the last few months. He had to succeed for them as much as himself. He would do anything for his friends. They were his family, his lifeline. He depended upon them, just as they did him. He owed them his best effort. It would not serve him well to dwell on how things should have been. They are as they are, and as Hagrid once told him, he would have to meet it when it came. If only it could have been easier.

Harry had decided that he would spend a few more minutes in here before he would turn in, determined to find something that would help him. If anything written could help him, he knew it would have to be here. He pulled down an old dusty tome, which had some markings on it which he could not read. He could have sworn the title was written in Latin, but he could not tell. He pored over the text, desperately looking for something that would assist him. Then suddenly, he found it. He knew that though this spell was advanced Dark Magic, but desperate times would again call for desperate measures. As he tried to reason this in his head, he couldn't help but feel that he was losing a part of himself, that committing himself this much to the task at hand that he would become as one of them. That he would be tainted by use of such magic.

After steeling himself, Harry knew that it was time to meet Voldemort, and now. He didn't know why, but he knew that this would work, and he knew in his heart that he could end this now. He did not want to endanger his friends, so he decided to go now, whilst they were asleep, and confront Voldemort alone.

"It's over Tom, it's time to end this thing" Harry had said forcefully.

"You fool Potter. You think that you could actually kill me, that your half-blood spells could actually challenge the power of Lord Voldemort?" spat the shell of a wizard who was once named Tom Marvolo Riddle.

Before he knew it, Harry was yelling at the top of his lungs, "Look at you, you filth, you are on your knees in front of me, without a wand. Here in the Department of Mysteries where you failed to kill me, AGAIN! I am going to end this for good!"

Harry dramatically pulled the necklace out of his pocket, along with Riddle's Diary. He immediately saw Voldemort's face change, something like fear flittered across his it.

"I think you recognize these Tom, don't you? I can't compare to you, can I? You were always a poor judge of character and skill. Goodbye Tom."

Harry steadied his wand at Voldemort, clinched tightly the necklace in his left hand, along with the Diary and yelled "Animus Rapio!!" A jet of crimson light left his wand, and hit Voldemort squarely in the chest. Voldemort hunched over, and the two items burned bright in Harry's hand. They were so hot, he had to drop them. They did not fall but floated in front of him. Eventually the necklace dropped to the floor, followed by the diary, which retained a crimson glow. Harry touched his wand to the diary, and set it ablaze. It burned bright with a green smoke that smelled of death and decay. He looked down at the now empty shell of Voldemort, and said

"Now it's over."

He pointed his wand directly at those now seemingly hollow red eyes and said "Avada Kedavra!" That was it. Voldemort was dead. He had succeeded.

Before he had a chance to breathe, he heard the lift doors at the end of the hallway open, and heard footsteps frantically running his way. His wand trained on the door, he recognized Rufus Scrimgeour. His eyes sweeping from Harry, and the body of Voldemort, he asked

"My god Potter, what happened here?"

"It's over Minister," he said, nodding towards Voldemort's body. "It's done."

"Potter, how is this possible? How is it that you did this? How did you get in here?"

"That's not important. I got rid of Voldemort for you. Let me pass." 

Scrimgeour had a look about him that bordered between rage and amazement. Suddenly, his face seemed to soften, and then he moved aside, and walked next to Harry as he made his way toward the lift. Harry made note of the fact that Scrimgeour was being oddly civil in this encounter. After all, why shouldn't he be? Harry had just rid him of the greatest threat the wizarding world had ever seen. As they reached the Apparition point, Scrimgeour finally spoke again.

"I must thank you Harry. I don't know how you did this, but I am thankful. Think not too hard of me, I was trying to do the best by our people, however misguided it was. What will you do, everyone will want a meeting with you. I dare say your fame will have increased 10 fold," said the minister, with a very rare smile.

"Thanks for that Minister. I think your best course of action would be to start rounding up what's left of the Death Eaters. I'm surprised Voldemort actually came alone. In the mean time, I've got to go tell my parents the news, and then I have to see about a girl."

Harry apparated to the graveyard just outside Godric's Hollow. 

Harry walked carefully through the brush to get to the graveyard that was just behind the old church in Godric's Hollow. It seemed as if no-one ever came around here anymore. The lawn of the church and on the graveyard was maintained, but other than that, not much else showed any signs of existence here. He walked up to where he knew his parents' grave markings were, and he felt that all too familiar lump rise within his throat. He dropped to his knees, and could not stop the tears from falling down on his cheeks.

"Mum…Dad…it's done. I've finally been able to end it. I'm so sorry that I couldn't do anything for you while you were both still alive. I'm so sorry."

He remained there weeping for a few moments, until he felt a strange wave of cool air pass over him. He looked up, and he saw what looked like to him, the ghosts of his parents.

"Mum? Dad? What the…but…I…how?" 

Looking down on him now, were the ghostly form of his parents.

The ghost of Lily Potter smiled down at her son and said "Harry please do not let yourself be troubled. Your father and I gave our lives for you so you could live. You have once again earned that right. You have made us so proud."

His eyes welled up again as he had just begun to think he did not have any tears left to cry.

"Harry," the ghost of James Potter began, "we have been with you every step of the way. Since we died we have watched over you. I am so happy to know that you have completed your task, and that you will now have a chance to live, a long and happy life. Do not dwell on the past son. Living for yesterday will only allow you to die tomorrow. We love you very much Harry. This is not the final goodbye, we will see each other again, we promise."

The tears continued to stream as the ghosts of his parents had faded away.

"Goodbye mum and dad."

Harry stood up. He knew now that it was time to go back, go back to the only home he had ever known outside of Hogwarts. He was finally going back to the Burrow.

Harry apparated just outside the Burrow, next to the mailbox. He could see lights on inside as it would seem the Weasley clan would be getting an early start to the morning. He was glad to be here. It was home. Suddenly he heard loud shouts and screams coming from inside.

"Oh no, no please, not here, not now, this is supposed to be over" he said to himself as he began to run toward the house.

He burst into the house to see Molly and Arthur…smiling, laughing jovially. He then felt the blood rush back into the rest of his body, and a smile crept up on his face. Molly caught sight of Harry and then Harry felt like he was being crushed.

"Oh Harry, my sweet Harry! You did it, you precious boy! Look Harry, look!"

She had risen up the morning issue of the Daily Prophet.

The headline read "THE CHOSEN ONE SUCCEEDS! THE DARK LORD IS DEAD."

"Harry you did a marvelous job! How did you manage it?" asked Mr. Weasley.

Two Apparition pops and then running footsteps from outside could be heard before Harry had had a chance to answer. He realized that it was Ron and Hermione coming to the house and that is when his heart fell through the floor. He knew that they would be extremely angry as he had left in the middle of the night, and they were likely very worried. 

Hermione yelled at Harry.

"Harry Potter! How dare you leave in the middle of the night like some stupid prat; you could have gotten yourself killed! What in Merlin's name were you thinking!?"

"I'm sorry that I made you worry. I really am. It was just something I had to do alone. I can't explain how I knew I could do it, but I did. It's over. It's done."

Hermione looked like she was going to continue to rage at Harry for what he had done, but instead she broke into a wide smile.

"Harry I'm so proud of you!! I knew you could do it, but don't ever run off like that again," she swallowed as more tears seem to come, "thank you for saving us."

Ron added "Yeah mate, you saved us all back there. I'm not happy you did it alone, but it turned out all right. Thanks Harry."

Harry was taken aback as Ron stepped forward and embraced Harry in a vice like hug; like he would one of his brothers after a long separation. He felt the tears well up in his eyes.

"Thank you for understanding. Now I'd really like to get to bed, I haven't had the chance to sleep yet."

"Of course Harry. You can have Fred and George's old room. Go on, go on up" said Mrs. Weasley.

He nodded to everyone in the room, and made his way up to the bed. As he lay on the soft bed, he inhaled deeply and said to himself.  
"It's good to be home."

Harry was awoken by the creaking sound that the door made when it was opened. He could not make out who was there, so he reached groggily for his glasses on the bed side table. It was Ginny.

"Glad to see you back, at long last, Potter," she said with a trace of bitterness in her voice.

"Ginny, I…I thought you'd be happy, I just…"

"Oh, shut up, Harry. Of course I'm happy that its over and that you are still alive but I cannot believe that you did not contact me for the better part of a year! A simple owl saying that you were OK would have been fine, but no! How could you do that to me? I watched the paper everyday just to see if something had happened to you, that's the only update I could have gotten," she ended with tears now coming down her cheeks. 

Harry felt his heart sink, and for a moment he was at a complete loss for words. He knew what it was like to be kept in the dark. It had been done to him all summer after Voldemort returned. He was horrified that he could make her feel this way.

"Ginny…I didn't mean…Ginny please look at me."

He nudged her face so she would look him in the eyes. He had to steel himself to ensure that he could continue speaking.

"Ginny, I did what I did for you. I did it to save you, to save everyone. The entire time I was gone, you were my strength. Thinking of you kept me going. The time we spent together kept me level headed and gave me something to work for. I...I love you, Ginny. Please forgive me. I don't know what I would do if…"

He had stopped speaking abruptly when she crushed her lips to his. Ginny began to deepen the kiss, and Harry had a feeling that he would pass out if she kept this up. They finally broke apart to take a breath and she whispered in his ear

"I love you too, Harry. I always have, and always will. I think we should go downstairs now though, Mum is dying to hear how you managed it."

Harry wearily came down the steps into the kitchen, unsure of how the Weasley clan would approach this encounter.

"Hullo Harry. Want a cup of tea then?" asked Mrs. Weasley.

He nodded to her as he approached his usual seat at the kitchen table. He looked around, curious as to who would start the inquisition first. It was Mr. Weasley.

"Harry, what we want to know is how you managed to finish You-Know-Who when he had two Horcruxes out there still?"

He looked furiously over at Ron and Hermione, who were sitting next to each other on the other side of the table. Ron looked incredulous.

"What does it matter now, mate? Its over, o'course we told 'em about the Horcruxes."

"Sorry Ron, it's just... it's a bit of a hard habit to break, it's been a while we've been keeping that bit secret," he paused before going on, " and well, it all started back at Sirius' hou-er I mean, back at Headquarters…"

He felt Ginny squeeze his hand reassuringly under the table, and he winked at her in appreciation

"…as I was poring over books in the Black Library to try and find something that would help. I had been looking for ages, and I thought I'd check just one more book before I would head to bed. I picked up this dusty old book that had strange markings on the front and a symbol that looked like it could have belong to the darkest of wizards. To tell the truth, I wasn't surprised to find such a book in that house. Anyway, I had been going through it the best I can, you could only make out so much of it, as it was so old, and the writing had faded a good bit. Anyway, I stumbled upon a spell, called the 'Animus Rapio' spell. You see, the way that this spell works, you have to have a Horcrux created by an someone, and of course that person present, along with a third item. The spell removes the soul from the person, and from the Horcrux, and melds them along in the third thing you have. I had the locket of Slytherin, and Riddle's Diary. When the spell was done, I set fire to the diary, to ensure it was destroyed properly. I then used the Killing Curse on what remained of Voldemort. You see, what happens when you cast the spell, is that they are as if they had suffered the Dementor's Kiss, a soulless shell. I couldn't chance one of his other 'experiments' coming back to haunt us."

Harry had wondered how they would react when they learned he had used such an evil spell. He had thought that they would look down on him; that they would even ask him to leave, never to return. He was, however, pleasantly surprised as to how they had reacted.

"Bravo Harry, well done! But how did you manage to find V-v-Voldemort, how did you know where he was?" asked Mr. Weasley.

"That actually turned out to be the easy part Mr. Weasley. I was able to get down into the Department of Mysteries, and from there I used Legilimency to let him see where I was, and I tried to make it out like I wanted to go back to where Sirius had died. By luck, or perhaps to sheer oversight by Voldemort, I was able to convince him that he had discovered this on his own, not that it was something I was showing him. Then, most luckily, he came on his alone. He was trying to trap me, the stupid git."

Everyone merely gazed at him. Almost as if they were too stunned to speak at this point. He saw a look of wonder in Mr. Weasleys' eyes, as he made to speak again.

"We are all real proud of you Harry." said Arthur.

"Bloody hell Harry that was amazing!" shouted Ron.

"Ronald! Language!!" squealed Hermione.

He looked down at Ginny, and saw her smiling up at him. It was at this moment he knew exactly what he had to do, knew what he had wanted, but was terrified all at the same time. He hoped having defeated the most evil wizard of all time would bolster his courage, but he felt oddly small at this moment. He also knew that it was his time to venture into uncharted territory. He hoped upon hope that this would come out as he wanted.

"Everyone I have something else I need to say to you all."

Everyone hushed up at this and looked attentively up at Harry. He gulped and thought for a moment maybe this wasn't such a good idea. Ginny smiled encouragingly up at him.

"Go on Harry, what is it?"

That smile from his earth bound angel strengthened him, and he knew that he could go on.

"This whole time I was out there, I was worried sick about all of you, especially you Ginny. You all have been the closest thing that I have had to a family since my parents died. I cannot express how much the love of you all has meant to me through the years. You took me in, and loved me as one of your own. Showing that kind of love to someone who had never experienced it, at least that I can remember, did a remarkable thing for me. It gave me happiness and hope. I love all of you for that; I promise that I will never forget it, nor take it for granted."

He paused for a second to look around the room. He noticed that Mrs. Weasley had some tears trickling down her cheeks, as did Ginny. Arthur had a look of emotion that clearly stated he was physically affected by his words.

He knew he must continue, lest his courage run out.

"However, it wasn't until my sixth year at Hogwarts that I really got something to look forward to. That year…"

He made sure at this point he was staring Ginny directly in the eyes.

"…is the year that I fell in love. That is the year that someone showed me what life could be like. They showed me something that I could look forward too, not just for tomorrow, but for the rest of my life. This person saved me from unknown horrors, and most importantly, she saved me from myself. Of course, I am talking about Ginny."

Tears were free flowing from her eyes at this point, but he knew that if he did not continue, he would lose his nerve.

"I know that this is going to seem kind of sudden, but I have never been surer about anything in my life. Ginevra Weasley..."

Harry continued as he climbed down onto one knee.

"W…w…would you do me the very great honor of being my wife?"

He asked this as he pulled out a small wooden box that had the Potter Family crest engraved on the top in the colors of Red and Gold, just like Gryffindor.

"This was my mothers' engagement ring; Lupin gave it to me a few months ago."

Harry looked over at Molly and her eyes were watering quite heavily now. Looking around, he noticed that all eyes were trained on Ginny. He looked back to her face, searching for a reaction. For the moment, it looked as if she had been stunned. Then before he could say anything else, he was crushed in a bear hug.

"Oh Harry, of course I'll marry you, you great prat!"

A collective sigh ran through the room, and Harry finally exhaled the breath he had held in for so long, and he started to let a few tears slide down his own face. He was soon going to become a part of this family for real. The family that had held him in such high regard, and had virtually adopted him, and made him feel loved had truly accepted him. This is it, he thought, this is what love and being whole feels like. He thought at this point, that he could really get used to this.


End file.
